Other Worlds Austin’s next Orbiter screening is the Texas premiere of DIVERGE on Wednesday, August 16 at Flix Brewhouse.

In the film, a man discovers how far he’s willing to go to return to the one he loves, and what he stands to lose in doing so. In the aftermath of a global pandemic, one survivor is given the chance to travel across time to stop the cataclysmic event and regain everything he has lost. To do that he must kill the man responsible for sowing the seeds of mankind’s destruction - his past self.

Some of the OWA staff, using our handy-dandy time machine, went back in time to change one thing about their favorite dystopian film to see how the timelines DIVERGE. The shocking results are reported here. First up, Operations Director Courtney Hazlett with her DIVERGE take of WALL-E:

The year is 2805 and Earth is comprised of and overloaded with garbage and massive uninhabitable air pollution. Megacorporation Buy-N-Large (BNL) saved the human race over 700 years ago by evacuating them on giant starliners leaving the planet abandoned with no plant growth due to contamination. The human race, already set in a sedentary, unhealthy lifestyle while on Earth has settled poorly in the microgravity atmosphere of space becoming obese and feeble relying on automated devices for every daily action.

2057 - BNL has taken over the entire world and its governments sparking chaos due to overpopulation and ravaging of resources

2090 - BNL determines the Earth will be uninhabitable in less than a couple decades and prepares to construct giant starlines equipped for sustaining and maintaining human life while they attempt to restore the earth using robots called Wall-E Units

2105 - The human population boards BNL starliners to being their new journey leaving behind robots to perform Operation Cleanup

2108 - The robots are having a hard time so there is a decision to incinerate the garbage

2110 - The mass incineration of garbage leads to unlivable atmosphere due to the intense air pollution therefore the decision is made for all humans to remain in space

2805 - The lone survivor Operation Cleanup robot Wall-E helps bring the humans back to Earth by following EVE, a probe bot, back to the starline proving the Earth can sustain life again

3500 - Earth seems better but still not where it should be as it is permanently damaged by the actions of the humans and BNL. However robots, technology, and space-time knowledge has vastly grown allowing for the invention of time travel...

In an effort to alter this timeline and save the Earth from this dying course, a couple of scientist time-travellers decide to go back to the early 2000s to prevent Earth’s demise.

3500 - The time-travellers travel back to the United States in 2004

2004 - Knowing the overwhelming success of reality television shows like American Idol and Survivor, the time-travellers figure to reach out to various individuals on these shows - judges, contestants, performers, etc. A handful of the individuals start to spread the importance of being kind to the Earth as their platform on these reality shows. They speak to living healthy, consumerism, climate change, and more. Now the word is slowly getting out there, but it is unsure if it will stick. They reach out to the UK and does in kind over there.

2005 - Al Gore founds the Climate Reality Project devoted to solving the climate crisis. Due to President George W. Bush’s love of reality tv and watching all the shows with his favorite contestants and judges talking about the importance of saving the Earth, the President decides to publically support Al Gore’s project and encourages the US to do the same. This peaks the interest of other countries who start to look into Gore’s project and devote time to learning about this crisis.

2007 - Apple Inc. adopts the Save the Earth campaign as their foundation and introduces the iPhone to the world ensuring their product is not only smart, stylish, and functional, but are recyclable with portions of the sales going towards science, technology, and giving back to the Earth. They even add “Save the Earth” onto their apple logo. Other phone companies follow suit. Now when people purchase their phones, they learn how that product is going to help the environment.

2009 - President Obama begins his first term as President and continues to empower and educate Americans on the importance of US’ involvement in saving the planet. Other countries have started their own campaigns to save the environment and promote healthy living. There are still disagreements but most of the world is leaning towards proper change. The time-travellers are still doing their part in helping to educate across the country and world.

2020 - The company Buy-N-Large is still in existence, but it has completely changed its marketing, production, and outlook. It will take a decade to get everything switched over to solar and wind energy, but they are officially on a proper course. Of course, their products still allow for bulk savings as humans love couponing, but are eco-friendly, packaged in biodegradable wrapping, sustainable, etc.

2090 - Waste production on Earth is on the path towards being minimal. People are still semi-focused on consumerism, but almost all products for purchase on Earth are friendly to the environment a leave nominal footprint. Scientists are still researching every day on how to take the next step

3000 - Teleportation is perfected cutting down on the need for cars, buses, etc seriously cutting back on a large waste of materials

3500 - Humans are co-existing with the Earth. Technology and science continue to advance and everything is running on renewable energy.